The subject matter herein relates generally to cable connectors that provide electrical links or pathways to connect two electrical cable harnesses.
Electrical performance characteristics of electrical cables vary among cables of different wire sizes, referring to the diameter of the wire conductors of a cable. For example, cables with larger wire sizes typically have better electrical loss characteristics (e.g., less energy lost to resistance) than cables with relatively smaller wire sizes, since the larger size wires have larger cross-sectional areas along which to convey current. In applications in which one or more electrical cables are used to convey electrical signals over a relatively long distance between two or more devices or systems, cables having larger wire sizes may be preferable over cables with smaller wire sizes due to the better loss characteristics in the larger wires.
As the wire size of a cable increases, the cable also generally becomes less flexible. An application may require an end of the cable to be routed through a narrow passageway through a case in order to terminate to a device within the case, so it may be preferable to use a cable with a smaller wire size in such an application due to the increased flexibility relative to a larger wire size cable. Additionally, an increased wire size may make a cable more difficult to terminate the wire conductors to a device having a relatively small pitch between contacts of the device. For example, larger wire conductors may have a larger center-to-center pitch between the centers of adjacent wire conductors than smaller wire conductors. Some devices may be configured to electrically connect to wire conductors having a certain pitch or ranges of pitches, such that the devices may be impedance-matched to such wire conductors. Thus, cables having large wire sizes may have a pitch between wire conductors that is greater than the device is configured to accept. Therefore, whereas cables with larger wire sizes may provide better loss characteristics than cables with smaller wire sizes, the larger wire size cables may be less flexible and/or less able to interface with certain devices than smaller wire size cables. Various applications may call for a cable that extends a distance between a first electrical device and a second electrical device in order to electrically connect the first and second electrical devices. The distance may be sufficiently long to warrant using a cable with a relatively large wire size to reduce electrical loss. But, the first and/or second electrical devices may be configured to electrically connect to a cable with a smaller wire size due to the contact pitches of the devices or an amount of flexibility required to access the devices within respective cases. Thus, a larger wire size cable may be preferable between the two devices, but a smaller wire size cable may be preferable for making the electrical connections to the two devices.
Accordingly, a need exists for electrically connecting a first cable having a larger wire size to a second cable having a smaller wire size.